This is how it looked last night just after sundown(Catalina Island in the background). The kelp is taking over and making it almost impossible to surf at lower tides. It did the same thing last winter and people said they had never seen it so thick. I keep utility knifes in the car and in between waves you can cut alot. Next time I am going to bring a mask and cut it low. We used to do this in San Pedro in the 80’s and if made a huge difference. Last winter, I mostly got snickers and could not get anyone to join in.
Mat surfers, body boarders and Alaia riders…come and slide while the logs struggle!
We never have had alot of urchins at Malibu. Last 2 summers the water stayed cooler than usual possibly allowing the kelp to establish itself where it would normally have died off with warm water…that seems to be the consensus. Maybe a big winter west would take care of it…but recent swells have not impacted it.
Big rains would bring sand to bury it as did eventually happen last year…but I belive as the sand moves on the kelp is still there waiting to fill in again.
I don’t know how true this is, but I heard for a while the kelp beds around Palos Verdes almost diappeared. The problem was urchins eating the holdfasts. Then the sushi craze hit and divers scooped up all the urchins and so the kelp beds came back. There are some spots that became pratically unrideable due to kelp. I think the last swell finally cleared some out. So what you need is not a knife but solid DOH waves…
In general, oceanographic conditions (that is, water temperature, currents) influence the recruitment success of kelp and its competitors, which clearly affect subsequent species interactions and kelp forest dynamics.
Given the complexity of kelp forests – their variable structure, geography and interactions – they pose a considerable challenge to environmental managers. It is difficult to extrapolate even well-studied trends to the future because interactions within the ecosystem will change under variable conditions, not all relationships in the ecosystem are understood, and there can be non-linear thresholds to transitions that are not yet recognized.
Isn’t there a regulated no fishing zone in the SM Bay? That might be a factor here.
Proneman, I completely agree with you on managing the kelp beds. I've been surfing a reef break since 1970 and regularly go out on flat days and cut away. Also I've found if you "pop" the hold fasts it will take longer to come back. Just cutting the tops makes this a chore. Nothing worse than getting hung up in a wave as it pitches...you blow the wave and get hammered. A good urchin knife with the blunt tip works best here.
ps. I only cut the offending kelp that are encroaching on the reef. Outside of it the bed is huge and thriving, don't want to mess with it. The big bed helps with the wind, stays smoother longer and is good fishing and diving. There must be a balance.
pps. When was the last time you've seen a kelp cutter working the coast? The only one I've seen lately is for the abalone farm near Cayucos and he stays close to home.
Reintroduce sea otters and they will manage the kelp grazers and increase the biodiversity and health of the kelp forest in general. In areas where otters are absent, you probably know the range, kelp forest were greatly reduced by grazers. Especially, by urchins. You would think that as kelp was reduced urchins and other grazers would starve and become reduced. But, urchins can also derive nutrients from sewage and continued to propogate. Cleaning up the water has mitigated the problem and much of the kelp forest ecosystem has returned,albeit, with not the same biodiversity orininaly present when otters were plentiful. That’s my understanding for what it’s worth.
The most fun I ever had at Malibu was on a Thanksgiving afternoon, head high south, just a few guys out, too much kelp. Mike
Mike, you probably already know this but they have tried twice to re-locate otters to the Channel Islands and they all headed back to your stomping grounds. Some hung out by Pt. Conception for a while but moved north eventually.
I haven’t heard that. I havn’t read much on the subject in a long time. My info is old, but I read the otters attempted to expand their range into the channel islands and into the northern boundary of their current range, but were captured and returned to prevent conflicts with the abalone fishery. I do know that the otter population has decreased a bit the last 10 years or so. Maybe too much genetic bottle necking in a rapidly changing ecosystem? About 2000 animals at present? I see the kids(students) with their antennas looking for animals along the coast from time to time and stop to talk to them.
wow, kinda like wikipedia hits swaylocks. I’ve seen a kelp (not macrocyctis) in southern California that’s really tough - so tough it stopped the propshaft of an old yawl I was on near the Channel Islands - flat stem with lots of small stringy “leaves”
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wow, kinda like wikipedia hits swaylocks. I've seen a kelp (not macrocyctis) in southern California that's really tough - so tough it stopped the propshaft of an old yawl I was on near the Channel Islands - flat stem with lots of small stringy "leaves"
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That's the stuff known as Feather Boa kelp (Egregia menziesii).
And yes it's super tough. Also very hardy, as it grows from Alaska down into Baja.
I have seen one urchin in southern california my entire life. My dad told me there used to be urchins everywhere just like baja… until we killed them all.
I saw one at lowers… and one in the channel between ab and subs… so i’ll back up that claim… and I would not include the ranch as southern california but I have seen craploads of urchins there…
My understanding is as sewage treatment improved in So Cal. the urchin population decreased and the kelp forest biomass increased. I try to keep in mind that nature is always in a state of change and flux and it’s hard to draw too many conclusions, in my opinion, based on what we’ve seen in our short lives on the coast. I suppose the kelp forest we see today are much smaller and less diverse than what was here before the otters were wiped clean. I do know the kelp forest here on the central coast are much thicker that so Cal. Otters are not the only critters that eat them. I guess they are popular with some ethnic groups. Mike